A jumper is a small metal device that can fit over two or more pins on a piece of computer hardware, such as a printed circuit board (PCB), to short the pins together, thereby completing an electrical circuit. Jumpers are also referred to as microjumpers or jumper shunts. Typically, jumpers are encased in a non-conductive block of plastic for convenience and to prevent accidental shortage. How the pins on the piece of computer hardware are shorted or not shorted together determines the configuration for the piece of computer hardware. For instance, jumpers can be used to set the voltage, speed, etc. of the piece of computer hardware.
When a piece of computer hardware is incorporated into a system, such as a server, a desktop, a workstation, or a laptop, the pins to be shorted together may be located in hard to reach places and/or may be hard to locate due to low lighting conditions within the system. In addition, the internal connection within a jumper may occasionally sever resulting in no electrical contact between the jumper and the pins the jumper is interfacing with.
Further, even when a jumper is properly connected to a set of pins, it is sometimes hard to determine whether it is the correct set of pins for the desired configuration because pins on a piece of computer hardware are usually only identified by a silk screen print on the computer hardware, which may be hard to see. Moreover, when multiple jumpers are connected to a piece of computer hardware, it is sometimes hard to determine which jumper or jumpers correlate to a specific configuration for the computer hardware.
Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism to provide jumper installation feedback. The present invention addresses such a need.